Tracy decided not to mess around with middle relievers. He realized the game was right here. He went straight to his closer, Franklin Morales, a power lefty. Morales struck out pitch hitter Andres Torres and then struck out the Giants' best hitter, Pablo Sandoval. Inning over and threat diverted. That was your high leverage situation and Morales was brought on at the right time to get the Rockies out of it.
Now, for some reason Tracy didn't allow Morales to start the 9th against Aubrey Huff. Morales had only thrown 10 pitches and hadn't worked since Friday (where he threw 40 pitches) and Huff is a lefty, but Tracy decided to go to the bullpen yet again. But even though Huff hit a home run, it was a solo shot in a low leverage situation.
The Rockies won the game and this is a move that will probably not get a lot of ink in your local newspaper (the only reason I even realized it happened was because Morales pitched for my fantasy team but did not get the save which made me inquire why), but that doesn't mean it wasn't a huge move for the game. A home run there from Sandoval and we have ourselves a different game. When managers get out of rigid roles for pitchers and understand that the most important innings may be thrown in the 7th or 8th, bullpens can be better run. I do not think it's coincidental that the Rockies have the lowest bullpen ERA in the National League and second best in the majors--Jim Tracy seems to have a good idea of what he's doing.
Picture from NY Daily News
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I actually see a lot of teams moving away from defined roles, other than the closer of course. Some managers put way too much of an emphasis on statistics (ex. Girardi) while other managers ride the hot arm (ex. Torre). Others go based on experience and trust (ex. Torre again) and others won't budge from their designated roles (LaRussa).
ReplyDeleteIf you're gonna go to your bullpen, you never want to lose a game with your best reliever sitting in the bullpen, which is why Tracy did what he did.
While I agree that the most important innings may be the 7th and 8th, you never want to get to the 9th inning with a lead and lose it.
Ben, I think you agreed with me up until the very end and then I'm confused. Are you saying you should save your closer for only the 9th?
ReplyDeleteEspecially when their best hitter is coming up in the 8th, I think that's when you want to deploy your best weapon
No no, not at all. But I do believe that if you go to your closer early and can't let that pitcher finish the game, you are certainly weakening your 9th inning and are thus weaker when you are closer to victory. If you are going to go to your closer early, you need to let your closer finish the game, esp if he's your best.
ReplyDeleteWhat I've never quite understood are teams that have better relievers pitching behind their closer (ex. 2006 Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney setting up 80 year old Todd Jones or 2007 Rafael Bettancourt and Rafael Perez setting up Joe Borowski).
But if your highest leverage situation comes in the 8th inning and you can neutralize a tough threat, why not just use him then? Who cares in the 9th if you have your closer or someone else pitching if you've dealt with the biggest threat in the 8th? If they blow the lead in the 8th and you still have your closer for the 9th, how does that help you?
ReplyDeleteAn example: Yankees vs. Twins, two run game, bottom of the 8th, 1st and 3rd, Mauer and Morneau coming up. I go to Mo here even if it means I can't use him in the 9th. Why? Because this is when you need him. Why wait for weaker hitters in the 9th? Because of the save rule? Because that's how people have done it for the past 20 years?
I'm not saying this is how you do it every game, but once in a while, the game may dictate the manager move out of his set ways.
Andrew, where was I disagreeing with you?
ReplyDeleteAll I said was that if you go to your closer in 8th inning then don't take him out 9th (unless of course you blow the game open in the next half inning). Going to your closer in the 7th inning is more dangerous because if he comes in with jam (runners on), one or no outs, and the second half of the lineup up, isn't there a chance the team's best hitters could come up again in the 9th inning and your best pitcher is used up by that point?
Some of the logic in not going to your closer too soon is that at least if damage is done in an earlier inning, you have more chances to retake the lead and then go to your closer.
The real problem is that closers aren't conditioned to throw more than 2 innings at most.